I see that our last post was about the last day of school. Here I sit, one week away from the FIRST day of the next school year. Where did the summer go? I feel so blessed to be able to be home with my kids during the day, especially during the summer. One more year of evenings and weekends before Megan is in all-day school and I can start working days.Let me try to give an overview of our summer in a nutshell. The school year went late because of a particularly snowy and icy winter. Therefore, we'd barely finished school when swim lessons began. We've been taking lessons through the city's Parks & Rec program at the public pools. Both kids LOVE it. The June session was torturous because the weather was cold and wet for the entire month. They muscled through, blue lipped, and Megan graduated from Level 1 to Level 2! We skipped the July session because our schedule just didn't allow it, but the kids ended strong with the August session. The weather was fantastic and at the end Nick graduated from Level 3 to Level 4!
Nicholas also participated in a series of weapons day camps at his karate school. He has trained in and completed tournament-quality forms in nunchaku, sword and bo staff. He loved the camps and had a great time.
Probably the biggest milestone for our family was Nick's first year at sleep-away camp at Windsor Hills. Dave and I both have such wonderful and life-changing memories from camp. Nick was excited, but anxious. To add to his anxiety, he was the only boy from our church attending boys' camp and his trusted counselor was unable to attend at the last minute due to a family emergency. BUT...Nicholas showed amazing courage and grit by jumping in with a crew of his old buddies from Lowell. Ok, he hadn't seen them since he was about 4, but he trusted us that these were his best buds and went along anyway. Thanks to them and Pastor John from Lowell, he made it the week! He was homesick and we did get one call on Thursday, but he persevered!! He loved the food (my picky eater?), enjoyed waterfront time, was the first to fall asleep every night (my boy who has trouble sleeping?) and even WON the pine-car derby on the last day!! He's still talking about things that happened at camp. He says he *might* go back next year, but I think that will turn to a "yes" if we can get more Nashua boys to go with him.
I once again was the preschool director for our church's VBS. It took many months of planning and innumerable hours of work, but we had a fantastic week at Crocodile Dock being fearless kids who shine God's light. The CD of the music is still a big hit in the van, especially for Megan.
Nicholas also participated in a series of weapons day camps at his karate school. He has trained in and completed tournament-quality forms in nunchaku, sword and bo staff. He loved the camps and had a great time.Probably the biggest milestone for our family was Nick's first year at sleep-away camp at Windsor Hills. Dave and I both have such wonderful and life-changing memories from camp. Nick was excited, but anxious. To add to his anxiety, he was the only boy from our church attending boys' camp and his trusted counselor was unable to attend at the last minute due to a family emergency. BUT...Nicholas showed amazing courage and grit by jumping in with a crew of his old buddies from Lowell. Ok, he hadn't seen them since he was about 4, but he trusted us that these were his best buds and went along anyway. Thanks to them and Pastor John from Lowell, he made it the week! He was homesick and we did get one call on Thursday, but he persevered!! He loved the food (my picky eater?), enjoyed waterfront time, was the first to fall asleep every night (my boy who has trouble sleeping?) and even WON the pine-car derby on the last day!! He's still talking about things that happened at camp. He says he *might* go back next year, but I think that will turn to a "yes" if we can get more Nashua boys to go with him.I once again was the preschool director for our church's VBS. It took many months of planning and innumerable hours of work, but we had a fantastic week at Crocodile Dock being fearless kids who shine God's light. The CD of the music is still a big hit in the van, especially for Megan.
Once camp and VBS were over, we turned our focus on vacation. Dave and I celebrated our 10th anniversary this summer by heading to the Sandals resort in the Bahamas for five days. While we were gone, the kids took their own vacation to the lake with Aunt Ellie and Grandma Way. Over the weekend they were joined by Nana, Papa and Uncle Dan. Dave and I enjoyed some quiet time away and we will be forever grateful for not only the care the kids received, but the amazing memories they made! Something is said about their vacation nearly every day! Cammy went on vacation, too. We've never kenneled her before, so this nervous mom sent her to the Ritz of kennels. We got reports back that she was shy at first, but quickly became very lovey and a staff favorite. I guess we have two kids prone to homesickness! They even e-mailed us a picture of her during playtime. 
After recovering from vacation, our sights started to set on the countdown to school starting up again. We squeezed in a few beach days with friends, swimming in our neighbor's pool, a trip to Water Country and some other fun summery things. Now we are all yearning for the sweet comfort of the fall routine. Both kids have declared that they're ready and excited for school to begin. We have backpacks and supplies and fall clothes ready to go. We saw our class lists this week and are happy with the results. Megan wishes a few more of her friends were in her class, but she makes friends quickly and I am not worried about her. 
It's been a crazy, fun filled, memory making summer and we've enjoyed every minute of it!
1 comment:
Oh yay! Thanks for this big, newsy update. I've been wondering how your anniversary trip went, and it's great to see the kids' enormous grins in pretty much every picture. Definitely what summer should be like!! :)
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